Daring to Love
by Spikeybabe
Summary: Cam's not the easist person to get along with. Hunter knows this, but he's going to try.Will be slash in later chapters.
1. Reflections

Let's see, I had to reload the chapter because I had Kanoi's name mis-spelled (Thanks CamFan4Ever!) and I forgot to replace the disclaimer. I don't own the Power Rangers because otherwise I wouldn't be writing bad fanfiction about them. But if I did, I'd own Cam and Hunter and, uh, never mind.

NS is my favorite season and that's why I'm having a hard time getting into their heads. I may need to rewatch the season. Hmmm.

Reflections 

Cam wasn't the easiest person to get along with. He was stubborn, opinionated, and an only child, which didn't make for peaceful interactions with others.

Most of his childhood had been spent at the Wind Ninja Academy, where there were no other young children. He had spent a lot of time alone; taking apart anything he could get his hands on because he needed to know how they worked. His father still talked about the toaster that Cam had taken apart and then reassembled when he was four.

His family had been close. His mother was a samurai, who had always said he'd carry on for her someday and made his father promise to never teach him the ninja way. His father, an Air Ninja, had been chosen to be the next Sensei, even though it would mean years of training.

His mother died in a car accident when he was six years old. They visited her, and the child she was carrying, twice a year, on her birthday in October and on New Years Day. Certain things always reminded him of her: the gardenia scent that she loved to wear, her favorite jazz musician, tiger lilies.

Two weeks after her death, he had begun kindergarten. He was hardworking and intelligent. He graduated high school at fifteen and from college, with a double major, at nineteen. He worked too hard and only played occasionally. His guitar, piano, and science fiction novels were his guilty pleasures.

Sometimes he was vaguely troubled that he hadn't had a regular childhood, where he played sports, had friends, and just relaxed. But in his mind, there was always something new to build and something else for him to prove.

In college, he realized that he was attracted to men as well as to women. He spent many months worried about his father's reaction, but when he finally came out; his father was as serene as always. Kanoi commented that he'd had his suspicions before and that he loved his son, Cam could lead his life as he saw fit and that he would always be supported.

He dated sporadically, men and women. None of his relationships worked longer than three months, because he never completely trusted himself or other people. He always kept part of himself separate from them.

After college, he worked as a freelance computer expert and worked on his PhD. He was unwilling to work full-time, because he had his duties at the Academy to contend with. His father had finally become Sensei and he had wanted morphers made for a new team of Power Rangers. Cam developed five morphers, with two being passed over to the Thunder Academy. He made weapons, a secret lair, and Zords, preparing for a threat that might never happen. His father was convinced, though, that Lothor would one day return and that they would be prepared when it did.

But when the time came to fight, he ended up with the biggest surprise of his life.


	2. Secrets Revealed

So it's been awhile for this story but I have a need to finish all my outstanding projects so DtL (I had DtD, it would probably help if I could remember the title, wouldn't it?) is first on my list. My problem? I'm not sure where I want this story to go. It's very unsettling.

Secrets Revealed

Cam's fingers were flying across the keys when a muffled sound caught his attention. He turned with a sarcastic comment on his tongue, thinking that the Winds had come to harass him but it wasn't – it was the Thunder Rangers.

"Where's your father?" the Crimson Ranger growled menacingly.

Yeah, right. He laughed. "And what makes you think I'm going to tell you?" He got to his feet and started circling towards his father's cage.

He kept his eyes locked on the intruders and realized who he was dealing with. He found it ironic that Blake was outside the portal this morning and now Ops was invaded. Which meant that the crimson one must be Blake's brother. Was his name Hunter? He made a mental note to pay closer attention to some of the Winds conversations.

Blake shrugged. "A little pain makes anyone talk."

Cam's brow arched. Someone needed some serious therapy.

The brothers scanned the room, seemingly oblivious to Cam's circling around the edges of the room. They noticed the cage right before Cam got to it and they started toward him. He fell into a defensive position.

"Please," Blake scoffed. "Two morphed rangers against you? No contest." He charged and Cam braced himself, hoping that all those martial arts classes in college would help him get out of this mess.

He got a fist in his stomach for his trouble and the breath left him, and he stayed upright through sheer will. Who needed to breathe? He spun around, forgetting Hunter behind him, and he kicked Blake in the back of the knee.

And then he was on the floor, caught in a chokehold with a strong body straddling his hips. His body stiffened as an electrical current traveled from the arm wrapped around his throat and down through his entire body. He moaned softly, embarrassed by the weakness.

Hunter must have heard because the pressure at his throat eased and he took a desperate breath, willing the nausea away.

"Are you okay?"

Huh. If he'd been asked before that very instant, he wouldn't have thought that the Thunder Rangers could show compassion. Usually unheard off when it concerned an enemy.

"Hey!" Blake snapped. "Come on, I have the rodent."

Hunter rose off of him and he followed by pushing himself up on his hands and knees. He wasn't doing his father any good by lying on the floor like a slug but he'd never had a feeling like that before. Part of Cam wondered if Hunter was aware of the lightening he exuded while morphed.

He stood and spoke carelessly, still rocked by the aftereffects of the jolt he'd received. "He's a guinea pig, Blake."

Well, hell. The brother's had been turning to leave before that inadvertent slip but maybe it could work to his advantage. He didn't know a helmeted figure could look questioning until Hunter showed him it was possible.

"What?"

Cam shrugged, annoyed by the whole fiasco. "It's obvious. Two new guys in town with the propensity of wearing navy and crimson. Surprise."

"How come you know and the Winds don't?"

He smirked but before he could elaborate on the obliviousness of the trio, Blake glanced over his shoulder at Hunter. "Speaking of the Winds, they're coming."

And that's how he found himself grabbed and dragged into a room off the Ninja Ops main chamber until the Thunders revealed themselves to the baffled Winds.

But this time, the current coming from Hunter was soft and steady. It didn't jolt him but caressed his body and made Cam uncomfortable. He wasn't supposed to be getting turned on by the enemy.

That night after his father was safely home, the Thunders had learned the truth about their parents, and the Wind's incompetence had succeeded once again, the only thing he could think of was **why** he was sure that Hunter Bradley was his future when he didn't even know the man?


End file.
